Comics to Remember: Fantastic Four #132

I'm pretty sure that most folks wouldn't count FF #132 as a "comic to remember." It's actually a pretty standard story. However, it marked the first time that I--as a kid--made a point of trying to find several comics in a row because I wanted to see the whole story instead of just the piece I'd find in a single issue.

It was 1973. I was ten years old. At this point I was choosing my own comics, but going mostly by whether the covers appealed to me and only secondarily by whether I knew I liked a particular book. And as a ten-year-old I went for the visually exciting. (Thus my purchase, at around the same time, of Supergirl #8, despite the fact that Supergirl wasn't a comic I typically read--but she had snakes on her head! Snakes! I had to have it! But that would be a discussion for another post, assuming that that book ever turns up...)

But I had always picked up Fantastic Four semi-regularly because I almost always liked it. (Probably mostly because of the Thing.)

Now, issue 132 was not a cliff-hanger. It had a definite ending. I didn't necessarily need to get issue #133...but what I wanted to know was, what had happened in issue #131 that set off this turn of events?

To some extent I could guess, from the exposition-filled splash page




and the angsty young-love soap opera, which IMO served to set Crystal on the slippery slope to becoming Marvel's premier Shady Woman With Questionable Morals, soon to charm a string of men who should really have known better (I'm talking to you, Black Knight!)



Luckily, back then the newsstands weren't as careful as they are now about getting rid of every single old issue, and I was able to get a copy of 131, and able to learn that the Human Torch had gone looking for Crystal (who had been a member of the FF at one point, I think originally during Sue's pregnancy, but had to return to Attilan because her delicate Inhuman constitution couldn't handle excessive exposure to the pollutants in the rest of the world) and discovered her making time with Quicksilver (who had been on a mission there, been injured, stayed to recover his strength and speed, and fallen in love with Crystal). The Torch of course decided to pick a fight with Quicksilver (no difficult task, that) because obviously the way to get a torn-between-two-lovers kind of girl to choose you is to beat the crap out of the other guy. Never mind that in every movie you see this in, the girl always picks the loser... In any case, he never did get to find out whether this would have worked because the fight was interrupted when the object of their competition was attacked by a giant...well, a giant.

So. Back to issue 132. You're probably wondering how Omega was defeated. Well, he really wasn't. You see...hey, do you remember back when the Inhumans had slaves? Yeah, those were the days. So how did that work out for them?





After the battle, the Inhumans reward the FF by repairing their uniforms via an "electro-weave" device. The Torch gets a new red version of his classic blue costume; Reed's costume remains the same. And Medusa?



Now, I loved Medusa in the Fantastic Four, especially as a replacement for Crystal--who, at that time, was a bit of a shrinking violet despite her great power. Medusa was very exciting visually--yes, she fought with her hair, but she fought, she didn't just point. She had an amiable arrogance to her that I liked a great deal. I suppose it had something to do with her role being primarily that of a team member, not that of a wife or girlfriend. (Crystal could undoubtedly have taken Johnny out at any time without even disturbing that odd hairpiece of hers, but she rarely got the chance to show her stuff.) Regardless, in this setting Medusa was a tremendously fun character!

The rest of the story? Well, as we all know now, Crystal ended up with Quicksilver, for better or for worse (mostly worse). And as for poor Johnny, unfortunately this would not be the worst ending to a relationship he ever had. But, again, all that is for another post.